A Life For A Whistle
by bluespades
Summary: Takes place in Chapter 4 of Catching Fire during Katniss and Peeta's victory tour to District 11. "By the end of the tune, I have found the whistler, a wizened old man in a faded red shirt and overalls." From the POV of the old man.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

**Author's Note: My first fanfic. Feel free to criticise as much as you want :) This story is mostly completed though I might edit some parts from time to time. **

The Capitol has their own cruel way of torturing each and every one of us, even if we're not participating in the Hunger Games. When the numbness of the deaths that year have passed, they're brought back again so suddenly and subtly. Of course this is on purpose. The next worst thing that could happen after the Games is when all the sorrow has passed, or at least most of it, to suddenly relive the bitter memories of the days we spent with those who will never return, knowing we can never hear or see them ever again and with that, scenes of their cruel deaths come as flashbacks.

I could never forget the two who were reaped in the 74th Hunger Games. Thresh and Rue. I had hoped they would return, one of them, but it was all futile. And today we would relieve their painful deaths and watch as the victors make their speech.

Today is the day of the Victory Tour.

We assemble in the square. Some of us have been given leave from work by the Peacekeepers to watch the Victory Tour. It's supposed to be a good thing for we don't have to work hours in the fields and orchards, but to most of us, the sting of the deaths hurt more than a day of back-breaking work.

Katniss and Peeta step out past the shaded veranda, receive gigantic bouquets of flowers and begin their speech. It's just the scripted reply given by the Capitol, so I don't pay much attention to it. But when they add their own speech, I listen. Peeta mentions something about giving part of their winnings to Rue's and Thresh's families and unconsciously, I murmur a sound of surprise. To give tribute winnings to the families of the dead - that is definitely unheard of. Is it even allowed?

Katniss stands on tiptoe to kiss Peeta lightly. I expect her to give her own speech as well but she doesn't say much, instead, they are presented with a large plaque. Katniss sets her bouquet of flowers down to receive it and from their looks it seems heavy. I thought she would say something about Thresh and Rue, with their mutual alliance and helping each other out, but maybe she just can't find the right words to put it in. It is, after all, safer to just reply with the scripted reply given by the Capitol, in case you say the wrong thing without intending to. But I still feel some sense of disbelief that Katniss, who established such a friendship with Rue and was spared by Thresh, didn't add anything of her own. Peeta, on the other hand, who never really talked to Thresh or Rue, is probably in trouble by giving their winnings to the families. Shouldn't Katniss say something as well?

Just then, I catch one of Rue's sisters looking at Katniss reproachfully. Katniss seems to get the message and she stumbles forward, blurting out, "Wait!" Then she begins a speech, probably an impromptu one, about how she respected Thresh and her friendship with Rue. But she's talking at an abnormally fast rate and I try hard to hang on to her words, but after her entire speech only one line sticks in my head. "I see her in the mockingjays that sing in the trees."

At this, I lift my head as she finishes the rest of her speech. The familiar tune comes to me again, that four-note melody Rue was so used to singing. And I was used to hearing it. But I would hear it no more. No voice could ever replace Rue's sweet one. As I'm thinking about this, the four notes slip out of my lips in a clear, low whistle. I dart my gaze around but no one in the crowd seems to notice, and that's when my gaze skids upwards and into the grey eyes of the Girl on Fire. In that split second, I see rebellion in those wild eyes - determination, defiance and the hurt that the Capitol has undoubtedly caused her, caused all of us. She quickly breaks her gaze away and the pair steps off the podium. But one thing I don't understand - Katniss left her flowers behind.

Without warning, I feel strong arms grab me from behind. Not just one pair, but a few. Then I see the unmistakable sleeve of the Peacekeepers' uniforms out of the corner of my eye and my blood freezes. There's no way of escape now. When the Peacekeepers get hold of you, there's no way out. And no one will help you, for fear of their own punishments.

"What did I do?" I yell at the Peacekeepers although I already know it. My whistle in itself was already an act of rebellion. And rebellion is punishable by death.

"You whistled," one of them replies bluntly and shoves me roughly to the ground, ordering me to get down on my knees before the crowd. For a brief moment I think I'm going to get whipped, but the click of a gun behind me proves it much more worse than that. I look upwards and Katniss is going to collect her bouquet of flowers she left behind. When she looks down to the crowd she stares in shock at me, at the gun to my head and the Peacekeepers forcing me down.

The last thing that I see are those anguished grey eyes before the gun sounds and I see no more.

**A/N: How was it? I'll like to know what you think!**


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